no man, by reason of this custom, enjoyed the fixed
property of any land; to build, to plant, to enclose, to cultivate, to
improve, would have been so much lost labor.

The chieftains and the tanists, though drawn from the principal
families, were not hereditary, but were established by election, or,
more properly speaking, by force and violence. Their authority was
almost absolute; and, notwithstanding that certain lands were assigned
to the office, its chief profit resulted from exactions, dues,
assessments, for which there was no fixed law, and which were levied at
pleasure.[***]

* Sir John Davis, p. 166.

** Sir John Davis, p. 167

*** Sir John Davis, p. 173

Hence arose that common by-word among the Irish, "That they dwelt
westward of the law which dwelt beyond the river of the Barrow;" meaning
the country where the English inhabited, and which extended not beyond
the compass of twenty miles, lying in the neighborhood of Dublin.[*]

After abolishing these Irish customs, and substituting English law in
their place, James, having taken all the natives under his protection,
and declared them free citizens, proceeded to govern them by a regular
administration, military at well as civil.

A small army was maintained, its discipline inspected, and its pay
transmitted from England, in order to keep the soldiers from preying
upon the country, as had been usual in former reigns. When Odoghartie
raised an insurrection, a reenforcement was sent over, and the flames of
that rebellion were immediately extinguished.

All minds being first quieted by a general indemnity,[**] circuits were
established, justice administered, oppression banished, and crimes and
disorders of every kind severely punished.[***] As the Irish had been
universally engaged in the rebellion against Elizabeth, a resignation
of all the rights which had been formerly granted them to separate
jurisdictions, was rigorously exacted; and no authority, but that of the
king and the law, was permitted throughout the kingdom.[****]

A resignation of all private estates was even required; and when they
were restored, the proprietors received them under such conditions
as might prevent, for the future, all tyranny and oppression over the
common people. The value of the dues which the nobles usually claimed
from their vassals, was estimated at a fixed sum, and all further
arbitrary exactions prohibited under severe penalties.[v]

The whole pr